France crash to Australia

Australia scored one of the biggest wins in their international soccer history when they defeated a completely revamped French team 1-0 in the Confederations Cup on Friday.

World and European champions France finished the match with 10 men after having skipper Frank Leboeuf sent off for a bad tackle on Aussie scorer Clayton Zane 15 minutes from time.

The only goal came after 59 minutes following France's failure to clear a Josip Skoko free-kick. Debutant goalkeeper Gregory Coupet could only touch it on to the woodwork, but was powerless to stop Zane chipping it in for what proved to be the winner.

France had the ball in the back of the Australian net a minute later, but Frederic Nee, also making his debut, had his goal disallowed for offside.

France coach Roger Lemerre made 11 changes to the team which played on Wednesday and gave international debuts to five players: Coupet, Nicolas Gillet, Nee, Jeremie Brechet and Zoumana Camara, as well as giving Olivier Dacourt his first international start after a brief debut appearance as a substitute against South Korea on Wednesday.

But Australia proved the better team on the day and with two straight wins in the competition are now virtually assured of a place in next week's semifinals.

South Korea beat Mexico with last-minute winner

Co-hosts South Korea scored a deserved 2-1 win over defending champions Mexico with a last-minute winner.

The Koreans took the lead after 57 minutes when Sun-hong Hwang rose to meet a pinpoint cross from Sung-yong Choi and power an accurate header past goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez.

Mexico equalised after 80 minutes when substitute Victor Ruiz scored direct from a free kick and they seemed to have done enough to secure a point. But as the clock hit 90 minutes Sang-chul Soo headed in South Korea's winner.

Both teams had plenty of chances to win the match which provided a milestone for Mexican skipper Claudio Suarez. He become the most capped player in international history by making his 158th appearance for his country.

Following their shock 1-0 win over France earlier, Australia lead group A with a maximum six points from two matches, followed by France (3), South Korea (3) and Mexico (0).

The final matches in the group are on Sunday when the Koreans play Australia in Suwon and France meet Mexico in Ulsan.